Cannes: Where Are the Hollywood Blockbusters?

Films from Lynne Ramsay, Todd Haynes, Sofia Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos and Andrey Zvyagintsev should appease the taste buds of any cinephile heading to the Cannes Film Festival this year.

But anyone hoping for the presence of a major big-budget studio title on the Croisette may have been disappointed by the lineup revealed Thursday morning by festival director Thierry Fremaux.

Christopher Nolan's WWII epic Dunkirk had been tipped as a potential Cannes title, as had the eagerly awaited Blade Runner sequel from Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049. But neither was read out, perhaps largely due to their release dates (Dunkirk is set for July 21 and Blade Runner 2049 for Oct. 6).

Luc Besson had already revealed that Valerian, his most expensive film to date, wouldn't be ready and that he'd never eyed a Cannes bow.

While Cannes' competition typically focuses on auteurs, it has often brought splashy studio titles to the Croisette in out-of-competition slots. For example, in 2016, Steven Spielberg's The BFG screened in Cannes out-of-competition, while in 2015 festivalgoers had the spectacle that was Mad Max: Fury Road plus Pixar's more family-friendly Inside Out to feast on.

Going back further, The Da Vinci Code opened Cannes' 2006 edition, while Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith premiered in 2008 and 2005, respectively.

As Fremaux revealed, there are still some spots left to be filled. Could there be space for a Baywatch, a Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales or an Alien: Covenant in there?